Collating machine



Sept. 4, 1962 w. H. PRINCE ETAL COLLATING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 2, 1959 Mm gvw mw INVENTORS W/LU/IM H. Pk/NCE VERA/0M J. CAMPBELL 9%; 9%

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W. H. PRINCE ETAL COLLATING MACHINE JNVENTORS WILL/AM H. PK/A/CE BY VERA/0N J CAMPBELL 08 45 @9601 ATTORNEYS R Q R R Sept. 4, 1962 Filed April 2, 1959 Sept. 4, 1962 w. H. PRINCE ETAL 3,952,466

COLLATING MACHINE Filed April 2, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 47 INVENTORS WILL/19M H. PR/A/CE VEKNO/V- J CHMP BELL 3,052,466 COLLATING MACHINE William H. Prince and Vernon J. Campbell, New York, N.Y., assignors, by mesue assignments, to The Capri Equipment Co., Minneapolis, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Filed Apr. 2, 1959, Ser. No. 803,758 7 Claims. (Cl. 271-61) This invention relates to collating machines and more particularly to a machine for automatically collating papers into groups and for stacking the collated groups in a predetermined manner.

The present invention provides a fully automatic collating machine which is relatively economical to produce and which may be operated without the need of skilled personnel or a full-time attendant. The collating machine of the present invention is desired to accommodate sheets of paper of standard dimensions and thicknesses without the need of additional adjustments and to reject any group of collated pages which is not correct. A simplified type of paper loading, by means of a removable tray, is utilized, which may be accomplished by nonskilled personnel.

An object of this invention is to provide a collating machine in which the piles of the individual pages are each loaded into separate removable trays of special design.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide an automatic collating machine which utilizes a pusher arm type feed arrangement.

Another object of this invention is to provide a collating machine utilizing a pusher arm type feed arrangement which has a comb on the end of each of the arms which are used to feed the pages.

Another object of this invention is to provide a collator in which the pages to be collated are fed upward from the tray onto the collator table under a guiding means.

.Other objects and advantages of this invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following specification and annexed drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the collating machine;

tes atent FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the groups of papers after they are stacked;

FIG. 3 is a detailed front view of one of the driven roller arrangements of the collating machine of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the collating machine showing the loading trays, pusher arms, and driving arrangements;

FIG. 5 is a detailed front elevational view of the driving mechanism for the pusher arms;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the end of the pusher arm and comb assembly, the feed trays, paper guiding member and rollers;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the back of the tray shown along line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a section of the top of the tray and paper guide plate along lines 88 of FIG. 6.

In accordance with the objects of this invention a collating machine is provided which is simple to operate and economical to construct. The collating machine of the present invention has a loading tray for each page of the book and a number of the same pages of the book being formed are placed in each of the trays. The trays are easily loaded into the machine by placing them on fixed arms. A pusher type arm mechanism is provided to feed individual pages from each of the trays into contact with a driven roller which propels the pages toward the output of the machine. The pusher mechanism is timed so that the pages of the book to be formed are fed from the trays in a turned relationship, so that they are properly located on top of one another. The pusher mechanism also has a rubber finger comb at one end thereof which serves to feed individual pages from the tray onto the conveyor and to strip back the pages remaining in the tray in a manner so that only a single page will be pushed into contact with the roller on each cycle of the pusher arm. The page in going from the tray to the conveyor passes under a guiding plate which ensures that only one page from each tray is fed to the roller at a time.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3-5 of the drawings, the construction and operation of the collating machine is described as follows. The collating machine has a pair of substantially rectangular frames which are formed by two vertical members It) and 11 and top and bottom side rail members 13 and 14 (FIGS. 1 and 4). (The members forming the frame 9 may be of any suitable material, for example steel, iron, etc., and these members are fastened together by any suitable process, for example by welding, etc. Fastened across one of the frames 9 substantially parallel with the top and bottom side rails are two bars 16 and 17 whose function is presently described.

Located between the top side rails 13 of the frames 9 are a plurality of driving rollers 20. The driving rollers 20 are spaced substantially equally apart along the length ,of the top side rails 13 at a distance which is less than the length of the paper being handled by the machine.

This is to provide a continuous drive for the papers being collated. There are as many rollers 20 provided as there are stations for loading paper to the machine. As shown,

the collating machine has four stations and four driving end of which is mounted for rotation in a hole (not shown) in one of the top side rails 13. If desired, ball bearings or other suitable bearings may be mounted in the hole on which the shaft 21 may rotate. The other end of the shaft 21 passes through a bearing (not shown) and a hole in the other top side rail 13 and a miter gear 23 is fastened thereto. A pair of idler rollers 19 are mounted for rotation on a shaft 22 which is located directly above the roller shaft 21. The shaft 22 floats in a pair of brackets 25 which are fastened to the side rails 13 and the idler rollers 19 ride on top of the rollers 20 or on top of the paper which is passing over the rollers 2b.

The miter gears 23 provide driving power for each of the rollers 20. This is accomplished by meshing another miter gear 24, which is fastened onto the main driving shaft 26 with gear 23. A number of bearings or brackets 28 are provided to secure the shaft 26 and the other shafts of the machine to the frame. The use of such bearings is well known in the art and no further description is deemed necessary. The shaft 26 is driven by a motor 27 through a suitable driving arrangement (FIG. 1). The motor 27 may be of either the alternating current or the direct current type and should be of a sufiicient horsepower to handle the machine power requirements. The motor 27 has a pulley 29 attached to the end of its shaft and a drive belt 30 is looped around the pulley 29. A second pulley 31 is fastened to one end of a shaft 33, the other end of which is mounted for rotation in the top side rail 13 by any suitable means. The shaft 33 is preferably mounted in a bearing 34 which is located on the shaft 33 between the pulley 31 and the top side rail 13 to which it is joined.

Located between the inner surface of the pulley 31 and the bearing 34 is a miter gear 35 which meshes with a second miter gear 37 which in turn is secured to the end of the shaft 26. As the shaft of the motor 27 rotates, power is transmitted through the belt 30 and the gears 35 and 37 to turn the shaft 26, thereby driving each of the rollers 24) through the gears 23 and 24. In this manner, the rollers 20 are made to rotate when the motor 27 is energized. While a particular type of driving arrangement is shown for the rollers and the other parts of the machine, it should be realized that other suitable driving arrangements may be devised, the particular type utilized and the arrangement thereof not being critical to the invention.

Located between each adjacent pair of rollers 20 is a platform 38 upon which the papers driven by the rollers 20 travel. The platforms 38 are secured to the top side rails 13, so that they are slightly below the top of the rollers 20 (see FIG. 4), thereby allowing the papers to pass from the loading trays, over the rollers 20 onto the platforms 38. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the collating operation takes place in the direction of the arrow, from right to left.

Each pile of an individual sheet being collated is placed in a separate tray 40 which is shown in detail in FIGS. 6-8. The trays 40 are loaded into the machine in the following manner.

At each station, for a tray 46, a U-shaped bracket 41 is rigidly secured to the bars 16 and 17 (see FIG. 7) at an angle (see FIGS. 4 and 6). As viewed in FIG. 6, the top rod of the U-shaped bracket 41 is fastened to the bar '16 slightly to the left of and below the roller 20 in the direction of the paper feed and the bottom rod of the bracket 41 is fastened to the lower bar 17 to the left of the top rod. [[n a preferred form of the invention, the bracket 41 is mounted so that the tray 40, when placed on the bracket 41, makes an angle of approximately 25 with a line drawn perpendicular to the bars 16 and 17, using bar 17 as the base of the triangle. The exact angle is not critical for proper paper feed, satisfactory results having been obtained at angles between 20 and 35.

The bottoms 42 of each of the trays 40 has two U- shaped channel guides 43 fastened to it. The loading operation is accomplished by hooking the channel guides 43 around the U-shaped bracket 41, thereby mounting the tray 40 in the proper position for correct paper feed without any further adjustment. This simplified method of loading may be readily performed by anunskilled operator. If desired, a plurality of trays 40 may be connected together with the proper spacing by a single bracket so that the operator may pick up the bracket, and by properly manipulating it, load a plurality of trays into the machine at one time.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, each of the trays 40 besides having a bottom 42 also has side walls 45 and a curved end Wall 46 at one end thereof. The ends of th side walls 45 adjacent the curved end wall 46 are also curved so as to conform to the shape of the end wall 46. The other end of the tray is open so that a sheet of paper may be fed therefrom. The side walls adjacent the open end are preferably shaped as shown, although their shape is not critical to the operation of the machine.

A plurality of sheets of paper 48 are placed into each tray 40 and the tray is then loaded into the collating machine by an operator, as previously described. Each tray 40 is loaded into the machine so that a paper plate guide 49 rests on top of the top sheet of paper of the pile. As shown in FIG. 8, the paper plate guide 49 is substantially rectangular in shape and one end of the guide 4? is connected to the under side of a respective platform 38 at a point just prior to a roller 20 by means of a hinge 52 (FIG. 6). The guide 49 therefore rests on the top sheet of paper 48 and moves toward the bottom of the tray 40 as the supply of paper in the tray decreases. The other end of the guide 49 has a rectangular cut out portion 50 for the end of a pusher arm to ride up into.

The paper plate guide 49 controls the feed from the tray 40 so that paper which is not entirely flat can also be fed onto the roller 20. Due to the curvature of the end of the tray 46 and the angle at which the tray 40 is mounted, the individual sheets 48 of paper are separated from each other, as shown in FIG. 6. This arrangement in conjunction with the paper plate guide 49 facilitates the positive action of having only one sheet of paper fed from a tray 40 at a time.

The individual sheets of paper 48 are fed under the paper guide 49 to a position between the rollers 19 and 20 by a pusher arm assembly which is provided for each tray 40 of the collating machine. Each pusher assembly is so timed that the page is pushed up from one of the trays over the roller 20 and onto the platform 38 at approximately the same time that a page from a preceding tray of the collating machine passes over the roller 20 which is adjacent to the first mentioned tray.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the pusher assemblies and the driving mechanism therefor is shown in detail. Each of the pusher assemblies is formed by a bottom arm 47 to which is connected an axle arm 47'. The connection of the arms 47 and 47 locks them in the position shown in FIG. 4. A pusher arm 51 is pivotally connected to the axle arm 47 by means of a rod (not shown) which positions the pusher arm 51 at approximately the center of a respective tray 40. The pusher arms 51 are free to pivot on axle 47 and due to their weight, they rest against the sheets which are loaded in the trays 40.

The pusher arms 51 are driven by a crank mechanism which is shown in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5. In the preferred form of the invention shown, the driving mechanism for the pusher arms 51 is mounted on the same frame 9 as is the driving mechanism for the rollers 20. Such arrangement is not restrictive to the operation of the machine since either driving mechanism may be conveniently located at any place on the machine. Also, as can readily be appreciated, the driving mechanism to be described for the pusher arms 51 is only typical of the many driving mechanisms which can be used.

A pinion gear 55 is fastened to the end of the main driving shaft 26. The gear 55 meshes with a bevel gear 56 which is connected to a second driving shaft 58. The shaft 58 has a pinion gear 59 joined to its end which meshes with a bevel gear 60 which is fastened to a third driving shaft 61. The shaft 61 supplies motive power for the pusher arms 51.

The shaft 61 has a number of substantially equally spaced miter gears 63 joined thereto, each of which gears rotates as the shaft 61 turns. The .gears 63 mesh with corresponding miter gears 64 which are mounted on a shaft 65. The shaft 65 extends across the collating machine between the bottom side rails 14 of the frames 9 for rotation therein. A crank wheel 66 is located on the shaft 65 and a driving rod 68 is connected from the crank wheel 66 to a crank arm 69. As the crank wheel 66 turns, reciprocating motion is imparted to the crank arm 69 through the connecting rod 68 which in turn drives the bottom arm 47 of a respective pusher arm 51. As previously explained, the crank mechanism is timed so that a pusher arm 51 pushes a sheet of paper from its respective tray onto the platform 38 at approximately the same instant that a sheet or set of sheets of papers from the preceding station or stations is passing over that portion of the platform. As can be seen, each sheet 48 is pushed from a tray 40 so that it is the bottom sheet of the group of sheets passing by its respective station. The timing of the pusher arms 51, shown diagrammatically in FIG. 4 for four stations, is adjusted correspondingly for the number of stations in the machine.

As motion is imparted to each pusher arm 51 by its respective crank mechanism, it moves upwardly into the cutout section 54} of the paper guide 49 and pushes one of the sheets 48 under the paper guide 49 into contact with a roller 20. The single sheet delivered from the tray 40 is placed at the bottom of the group of sheets passing over the respective roller 20 at that instant and this group of sheets is driven onto the platform 38 by the rollers 19 and 20. This group of sheets is then moved by the rollers 19 and 20 to the next station where another sheet is added to the group in the manner previously described.

In order to accomplish smooth feeding of the sheets, the end of the pusher arm 51 is supplied with an arcuate shaped member 70 (-FIG. 6) to which is fastened a comb 73, which is made of rubber or other suitable material. The arcuate member 70 is connected to the end of the pusher arm 51 by any suitable means, for example such as screw '71, and the rubber comb 73 is secured to the arcuate member 70 in a suitable manner, for example by cementing. It is the fingers of the rubber comb 73 which come into contact with the sheets 48 and push a single sheet at a time from the tray 40. The weight of the pusher arm 51, the arcuate member 70 and the rubber comb finger 73 provides enough pressure on the sheets 48 so that on the upward stroke of the pusher arm 51 a sheet of paper 48 is pushed from the tray 40 under the paper guide 49 into contact with the driving roller 20.

At the end of the upward stroke of the pusher arm 51, the rubber comb 73 rides into the cutout portion 50 of the paper guide 49. This cutout portion of the guide 49 allows a pusher arm to be effective throughout its complete upward stroke. On the downward stroke of the pusher arm 51, the pressure provided by the arm and the members 70 and 73 strips back the sheets of paper remaining in the tray 4% to the position shown in FIG. 6. The particular position of the sheets of paper in the tray 40 and the use of the rubber comb 73 facilitates the feeding of only a single sheet of paper at any given time since with the paper in the position shown in FIG. 6 the topmost sheet offers the least resistance to being pushed by the comb 73'. In this manner, a single sheet of paper 48 is always ready to be fed onto the platform 38 from the same position.

In FIGURES 6-8, one arrangement is shown whereby the fingers of the rubber comb 73 are prevented from being worn out when there is no paper in the tray. This condition occurs when a station of the collating machine is not being used and the tray is therefore left empty or, when the paper supply of a particular tray is exhausted. In this embodiment, the tray 40 is provided with a slit 7 6 at the curved end 46, and a cutout portion 77 at the other end thereof. A roller wheel 78 is mounted on the bottom of the tray adjacent the slit 76 and the cutout portion 77. A belt 80, which is preferably of canvas or some other similar material, is looped around the roller wheels 78 and inside the bottom of the tray 40 through the slit 76 and the cutout portion 77. When there is no paper in a respective tray 40, the fingers of the comb 73 rest against the belt :80. As the pusher arm 51 moves up and down, the comb 73 remains stationary on the one spot of the belt and pushes the belt 80 back and forth over the roller wheels 78. The motion of a sheet or group of sheets is continuous throughout the length of travel of the collating machine, since due to the spacing of the rollers and the size paper used, the sheet or group of sheets is always in contact with at least one driver roller 20* and idler roller 19.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described above, it will be understood that this embodiment is illustrative only and the invention is to be limited solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A tray for use with a collating machine for holding sheets of a given material comprising a bottom member, said bottom member having an upwardly curved portion forming one end of said tray, the other end of the tray being open, two side walls, said side walls fastened to said bottom member and substantially perpendicular thereto, a slit in the bottom of said tray adjacent said curved portion, a continuous belt looped through said slit and the open end of the tray, said belt being free to rotate toward either end of said tray.

2. A tray for use with a collating machine for holding sheets of a given material comprising a bottom member, said bottom member having an upwardly curved portion forming one end of said tray, the other end of the tray being open, two side walls, said side walls fastened to said bottom member and substantially perpendicular thereto, a slit in the bottom of said tray adjacent said curved portion, a roller mounted on the underside of said bottom member adjacent each end thereof, and a continuous belt looped through said slit and the open end of the tray and over said rollers, said belt being free to rotate toward either end of said tray.

3. Material holding and guide means for use with a collating machine comprising an inclined tray for holding sheets of material of the class indicated, said tray having a bottom, side members, a lower enclosed end portion and an open upper end portion, transverse longitudinally spaced channel guides having facing channels secured to the under side of the bottom of said tray, a bracket carried by said machine removably transversely embraced by said channel guides, a platform in connection with said machine having a slot aligned with said open end of said tray, a plate-like guide member hinged to the under side of said platform adjacent the near side of said slot and including inwardly longitudinally of said tray to overlie said material, said guide member having an open-ended slot centrally longitudinally of its free end portion whereby said material is removed from said tray freely upwardly under said guide member.

4. The structure set forth in claim 3, said enclosed end portion being curved upwardly from the plane of the bottom of said tray and having its free end portion angled inwardly sharply.

5. The structure set forth in claim 3, a material feeding arm extending upwardly centrally longitudinally of said tray for frictional engagement with said sheets of material therein, and means in connection with said machine normally continuously reciprocating said arm to feed said material through said slot under said guide member.

6. A tray holding sheet of material to be used in connecting with a collating machine comprising a flat bottom curved upwardly at one end portion thereof terminating in an inwardly angled lip portion, upstanding side walls and an open end portion, a bracket at the under side of said bottom, and means in connection with said machine removably receiving said bracket.

7. The structure set forth in claim 6, said bracket comprising a pair of facing transversely extending channel members, and said means comprising an inclined plate member embraced by said channel members and having 2,222,271 said open end of said tray forming the upper end thereof. 2,427,839 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2:587:690 472,492 Begg Apr. 5, 1892 2,652,249 1,028,091 Matthews May 28, 1912 2,793,032 1,108,599 McCullough Aug. 25, 1914 2,808,262 1,276,608 Baily et a1. Aug. 20, 1918 2,309,031 2,060,270 Willats et a1. NOV. 10, 1936 10 2,920,888

2,117,906 Obermiller May 17, 1938 8 Warner Nov. 19, 1940 Davidson Sept. 23, 1947 Davidson Aug. 16, 1949 Lawrence Nov. 6, 1951 Brereton Mar. 4, 1952 Bruns Sept. 15, 1953 Van Dusen May 21, 1957 Keil Oct. 1, 1957 Alexander Oct. 8, 1957 Smith Jan. 12, 1960 

